Do you have business cards ready to hand out to interested parties? Do you have other printed promotional materials to help spread the word about your work, especially if you are a visual artist or have an opportunity to really show off your work through photography? Although it may seem old fashioned, traditional printed material is still amazingly effective as a way of marketing your brand and products.
Business Cards
Although the digital age may seem to have pushed print to the waysides in many arenas, the business card is still alive and thriving. In fact, printing business have reported a surge and demand for printed business cards. Huh, imagine that! I get a lot of my printed materials from Vistaprint and they happen to print business cards more than other other one of their products. Although there are many ways to exchange contact information, especially for online businesses…the traditional business card is much more intimate and immediate. Dating from the Victorian times, “calling cards” were the thing to leave for any respectable gentlewoman/man – and I do have a thing for the Victorian days. Did you know it’s also become “a thing” to order dating cards? Yes, your contact information on a printed card to hand out at bars and social events for singles. 🙂
The point is that the business card is here to stay. They are cheap to print and best in small quanities, so you can change the look and update as often as you like. In fact, it keeps things fresh. It’s like leaving a little part of your brand in prospective customers’ hands. I know there are folks who go all digital…but I think you are missing out. In fact, with the overload of digital these days…print has become the all too missed element in real-life interactions. Let’s just say if you are already super famous…then yeah, you probably don’t need or want to be passing out business cards. But I don’t think that applies to most of us creatives…because we want and need to get ourselves out there and known.
Promotional Printed Materials
The same idea applies for other types of promotional printed materials. Notecards, postcards, magnets, calendars…products galore! It might seem real estate agent cheesy, but you seriously stuck that magnet or calendar on your fridge, right? Didn’t you keep that pad of paper to use it for note writing? With the flood of digital and online marketing these days, again we have print looking a bit special. Snail mail coming back strong and honestly…bring back a sense of real human interaction from business to customer. I love getting postcards and notecards from my favorite illustrators and Etsy shops…it reminds me about their work and gets me to go to their shop for sure.
Also, I find printed materials a great way to spread the love and art…again…email blasting an image to your list is different than actually printing postcards and sending it out. You know the difference and I think you’ve felt it as a consumer yourself. I know that there are hardcore digital folks who say they don’t need the old ways of doing things. I on the other end of the spectrum because I love printed materials myself, think that it’s cheap enough these days to actually be more worth the effort and money spent.
What do you think? Do you have a business card and printed materials to help with marketing? Let me know in the comments below!
